Bulma felt like she hadn’t slept in days. She worked around the clock under Vegeta’s constant supervision.

“ Cant you work any faster,” he asked.

“ I would certainly like to see you try and find a cure to a deadly disease under all this pressure. You probably have never done a hard days work in your life, Mr. Prince of Saiyans. ‘ I am the almighty prince of monkeys and I don’t have to do anything.’” she said in a mocking tone. Big mistake. In an instant Vegeta had grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and had her pinned against the wall.

“ How dare you mock me woman,” he hissed. “ There are thousands of other brilliant scientist who do this within days. I don’t need you and will not hesitate to kill you whenever I see fit.”

“ Then why don’t you?”

He didn’t know why, but the woman made a good point. If in fact he didn’t need her than why was he keeping her around? Like he said he could easily find another brilliant scientist to take her place and end his fathers misery.

For the first time since he had her brought there Vegeta looked at Bulma. He looked into her eyes and saw the same loneliness, anger, and hatred he had felt for most of his life. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but somehow Vegeta had leaned in and kissed Bulma. It was like something had seized control of his body and he wasn’t fighting it. He wrapped his arms around her waist and continued to kiss her passionately.

Bulma was shocked. What did he think he was doing? She couldn’t believe he was kissing her, and he wasn’t a bad at it either. She eventually gave up thinking about it and began to kiss him back when he suddenly backed off. He looked puzzled and angry. Bulma couldn’t figure out why? After all he had kissed her first.

“ Get back to work,” he said as he stormed out the door.



~*~

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and Bulma was still hard at work. She wasn’t getting any closer to a cure for the deadly disease, and Vegeta was getting testy. He would show up numerous times a day to make “deals” with Bulma. He’d promised her a wealth, life, and a chance to return home if only she would produce a cure. All the promises didn’t help and eventually it became too late.

The King died in his sleep one night and it was up to Vegeta to take his rightful place as King. There were still two slight problems he had to deal with first. First he had to figure out what to do with the earth woman since he no longer had any use for her. Then he had to set about the task of finding himself a mate.



~*~

Bulma was devastated. Essence had told her that she would fail, but she thought for sure she could change her fate. Vegeta would surely kill her now. She sat in her room and thought about that once in a lifetime kiss that they had shared. She could still feel his lips on hers and the way his arms wrapped lovingly around her waist. The memory sent chills up her spine.

After the incident Vegeta had turned cold towards her. He wouldn’t even look at her any more let alone speak to her unless he was barking orders. It made no sense. One minute he was kissing her and the next he was acting like she didn’t exist. Bulmas thoughts were interrupted when Vegeta came storming through the door.

“ Are you happy now!” he yelled. “ My father is dead and it is your fault.”

“ My fault? How on Earth is this MY fault? I did the best that I could and you running around barking orders at me weren’t helping. If it is anyone’s fault its yours.”

“ How dare you accuse me? I did my best to keep my father alive.”

“ Oh really. Then why is he dead?”

Vegeta had lost his temper and was ready to kill the big mouth Earth women. Again he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and slammed her against the wall. Bulma’s eyes flashed with fear and she began to cry. Vegeta watched the tears roll down the girls face and a feeling of sadness washed over him. It wasn’t her fault that his father had died, nor was it his. Vegeta released his grasp on Bulma and headed for the door.

“ So that’s it? Your not even going to apologize.”

“ I am the crowned prince of Vegetasei, I apologize to no …”

“ BULL SHIT! After everything that you put me through I think you at least owe me that much.”

“ Ha! Be grateful that I don’t kill you where you stand.”

“ You couldn’t kill me even if you tried.”

“ Oh really.”

“ Yes really. Whether you admit it or not you have feelings for me.”

“ Don’t flatter yourself.”

“ Than why did you kiss me?”

Vegeta hung his head. He had also been trying to find an answer to that question. Why had he kissed her? He knew the answer but refused to admit it. She was right he did have feelings for her.

“ I don’t know.”

“ Whatever.”

“ You think that you know what’s going on. You have no idea what it feels like to grow up in a royal family. Everyone is so busy agreeing with you that no one is really listening to you. So don’t try to tell how I feel.”

“ You are so full of it. Poor Prince Vegeta all alone in the big cruel universe.You think you’re the only one to feel alone. You don’t know the meaning of the word. I was kidnapped from my family and friends, brought to some strange planet, and forced to work non-stop without any help to find a cure for an arrogant prince. Don’t tell me about being alone.”

Tears began to roll uncontrollably down her face.

“ I have no one left,” she wailed.

Vegeta couldn’t stand to see her cry and went to her side. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders and tried to get her to calm down. Bulma wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face, and let it all out. All the frustration, anger, loneliness, and pain that she had been holding in all this time poured out of her.

Vegeta pulled her away from him and tried to look into her eyes. Bulma hung her head and did her best to avoid Vegeta’s gaze. With a gloved hand he reached out and raised her face to his. Then just as before he planted a passionate kiss on her soft lips. Bulma backed away. She had an uneasy feeling about all of this. Suddenly Essences words flashed through her mind and she stopped fighting it. The kiss was long and deep and neither one of them wanted to let go.